Norway have unveiled all 21 songs that will be competing in Melodi Grand Prix 2009 for a chance to represent Norway at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. 21 acts will compete throughout 3 heats. The top 2 songs will go straight to the final, and the songs finishing 3rd and 4th in their heat will compete in a second chance round. Here are the dates and locations of all shows;
- 1st semi-final: Kongsvinger, 24 January 2009
- 2nd semi-final: Bodø, 31 January 2009
- 3rd semi-final: Skien, 7 February 2009
- The last chance (Siste sjansen) round: Ålesund, 14 February 2009
- Final: Oslo Spektrum, 21 February 2009
And here is our review of all 21 songs. Some great, some good, some bad as you’d expect. But overall, they mostly fall into the ‘good’ category. It’ll be a tough competition (Heat 2 being by far the strongest) and with so many quality songs, there are bound to be more than a few dissapointments even before the final on February 21st. Oh, and you can hear them on youtube, or at at NRK’s website; http://nrk.no/programmer/tv/melodi_grand_prix/1.6423701
Heat 1:
Charite – Sweeter than a kiss
Charming, female vocalled, mid-tempo song. Very poppy (nice melody) with a good bit of guitar featured. And there’s a perfect key change! The song was co-written by Christian from a1.
Chicas del Coro – Men, Men, Men!
A fifties Puppini Sisters style ‘romp’ through the reasons why a lady chooses to go on holiday – mainly Men! Sterilised promiscuity!
Espen Hana – Two of a kind
By definition, we shouldn’t like this, but we really do! It’s a midtempo, retro jazz/soul/blues track lead by a male vocal. But the melody is beautiful and catchy enough. A really nice sentiment too. This should have no problem reaching the final. But there are others that we’d prefer to see win.
KeSera – Party
This is an odd sounding song. Half the time the backing track is trance, and the rest it is hip hop! With Norwegian rapping over the whole thing. Not bad per say, just…different.
Surferosa – U look good
These guys look like Alphabeat crossed with Aqua. Unfortunately, they don’t sound like that! They do sound good though, and the track is enjoyable despite being guitar heavy. The chorus is very catchy. It sounds like a typical song by Australian girlband The Veronicas. And the dreamy middle eight goes really well with the hard edge of the rest of the song. If this wins, there were won’t be anything else like it in Moscow this year, which can only work in its favour.
Thomas Brøndbo – Det vart ein storm
Not our kind of thing at all. But it may well stike a chord with viewers, as it’s got an undeniably strong melody. Mid-tempo male vocalled rock song.
Velvet (not to be confused with the Swedish goddess of pop of the same name) – Tricky
They sound like German girlband Monrose – which is a good thing. But they look like German girlband No Angels – which is a bad thing! The song is one of our favourites though, and we’d love to see this in the final. Definitely the most modern sounding poppy song in the competition.
Heat 2:
Alexander Stenerud – Find my girl
An amazing song! It starts off as a beautiful, emotional and anthemic ballad. Then….turns into an up-tempo disco song!!! Complete with dramatic drums beats at appropriate times, and an enigmatic sounding middle eight with strings and things! It’s so good that its lack of key change isn’t even disappointing!
Janni Santillan – (Like you did) Yesterday
Young and pretty brunette girl sings understated ballad. The song has quite a retro feel to it, the sixties vibe that Maria’s ‘Hold On Be Strong’ had last year. But it’s far softer. This should easily end up in the final.
Julius Winger – Like an angel
See our Thomas Brøndbo review. There are so many strong songs in this heat that this should (thankfully) find it quite difficult to qualify.
Publiners – Te stein
Guitar heavy rock song with a bit of celt/trad thrown in. A fair bit of tin whistle.
Tine Wulff – Ride
A bit rubbish. Only because it’s quite country though and we don’t usually like ‘that sort of thing’. We don’t even like Texas Lightning, and this is nowhere near as good!
Tone Damli Aaberge – Butterflies
‘Butterflies’ has already proven itself to be a bit of a fan favourite, with a lot of people naming it as their pick of the bunch. It certainly sounds like it would do very well at Eurovision. The strings that catch you at the intro, stay throughout the song, and the chorus is very strong.
Wenche Myhre – Alt har en mening nå
This is one of our favourites. Imagine Guri Schenke singing ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’! It sounds like a modern take on a seventies song, a seventies Eurovision song at that. Very uplifting, lots of charm, and you can imagine yourself with a wide smile after seeing it performed. But best of all, it’s got the most indulgent and glorious key change out of all 21 songs. Please send this to Moscow!
Heat 3:
Alexander Rybak – Fairytale
This guy seems to be the hot favourite to win the whole thing. It’s an uptempo track, not dance music, it relies on a drum beat, fiddles, and guitars to create a very uplifting song about unrequited love on a lost cause. If we had to compare it to anything we’d suggest Denmark’s Eurovision entry last year, ‘All Night Long’, not because they sound similar, but because ‘Fairytale’ would probably appeal to the same people and that it would achieve similar success.
Foxy – Do it again
An electro and rock tinged pop track. Bizarrely, this sounds a lot like the same titled ‘Do It Again’ by British girlband Cookie!!! It’s a good track but it’s just overshadowed by a lot of stronger songs that it’ll be competing with.
Jane Helen – Shuffled
This sounds like Evenescence on an LSD comedown. Not a good sound if you ask us.
Ovi – Seven seconds
Uptempo song lead by lots of piano, drums, and guitar. Not our sort of thing but it will probably be quite popular.
Sichelle – Left right
A dramatic R&B ballad. We really, really like this. It sounds a lot like ‘Energy’ by Keri Hilson. And the fact that there is nothing else like it in the competition should work in its favour. One of our favourites.
Sunny – Carrie
This is probably our favourite of this heat – despite its reliance on that disease of music – the guitar!!! A very catchy, uplifitng chorus, with an ‘oooh-oooh-oooh’ backing vocal that compliments it perfectly well. It sounds like a track from the very very good ‘Rock Angelz’ album by Bratz. Yes, we do mean those dolls.
The Rebelettes – Soul Train
More sixties soul frivolity. Not in a good way.
And there you have it. Not bad. Things kick off on Saturday, 24th of January. And we’re hoping that Charite and Velvet qualify straight to the final, with Espen Hana and Surferosa picking up a ticket for the second chance round. But can we take this opportunity to make a plea for Lene Alexandra and Queentastic to return in 2010?!!!
